SCIENCE / MEDICINE : Long Bird Tails More Sexy

Female barn swallows find long-tailed mates more sexy, a Swedish scientist reported last week, providing the first evidence that monogamous birds may choose partners on the basis of their physical charms.

Dr. Anders Moller of Uppsala University in Sweden said his study of the barn swallow, Hirundo rustica, from 1970 to 1987 indicates that male birds with conspicuous, elongated tails obtained mates more quickly than males with shorter tails.

“On average, males with shortened tails took more than four times as long to acquire a mate than males with elongated tails,” he said.

Moller found this after experimentally lengthening or shortening the birds’ tails by cutting out or inserting an extra middle segment of feather.

Because 90% of the birds are monogamous, Moller said his findings, reported in the British journal Nature, have great implications for future characteristics of the birds.